There aren't a lot of solutions in politics. But here's my idea to pay down the national debt—product placement.

Think about it.

The State of the Union address is carried by all the major networks and the cable news networks too. What might a company pay for that kind of exposure?

In 2014 the going rate for a :30 Super Bowl spot was about $4 million. A :60 was double that. Granted, the Super Bowl beat the State of the Union in total estimated viewership 111.5 million viewers to 33.3 million viewers—ouch. But that being said, the top rated prime time show in 2013 was NBC’s Sunday Night Football, which had an average nightly viewership of 21.5 million. They charged $545,000 per spot. By that logic, with 50% more viewers, The State of the Union could fetch 50% more in placement revenue per product. At least. Factor in total screen time and an implied presidential endorsement (which admittedly may depend heavily on the popularity of the sitting President) and I think you could justify something approaching Super Bowl costs. Imagine Obama pausing to wet his parched lips with a sip of Pepsi.

Cha-ching.

Of course we’re only talking tens of millions annually, when it’s all said and done, which is ultimately just a drop in the bucket with our national debt approaching 17 trillion. But what the heck, at the very least it’s money that could go toward reviving the Death Star initiative.